- Some Flair Airlines passengers were stuck on a plane for 10 hours and served restroom water, per CBC.
- The flight from Toronto to Saskatoon was diverted to Winnipeg due to bad weather.
Some passengers on a Canadian airline say they had no option but to drink water from the restroom sink after being stuck on a plane for 10 hours.
CBC first reported that a Flair Airlines flight from Toronto to Saskatoon was diverted to Winnipeg on Monday after "adverse weather conditions" meant it could not land at the intended destination.
Kim Gale, a passenger on flight 8673, told Insider the pilot told passengers that the plane was unable to land due to poor weather and the length of the runway in Saskatoon.
This followed a four-hour delay to the departure from Toronto, Gale said, which meant the flight didn't depart until 8.30 p.m.
According to Flightradar24, a site which tracks aircraft movements, the plane was in the air for nearly four hours before landing in Winnipeg. Saskatoon is about 1,700 miles west of Toronto, and about 500 miles from Winnipeg.
Gale said passengers were given conflicting information at Winnipeg about the plane's movements.
"This is when passengers became irate and people were shouting to get off the plane. There were babies crying. It was intense," Gale said.
"The stewardess then made an announcement that security was called. Then they said those who wanted to get off the plane could get off, but we were on our own."
Gale said checked luggage would stay on the plane after the decision was made to return to Toronto.
With only a carry-on bag, she was one of the passengers who deplaned in Winnipeg. She told Insider she didn't get off the jet until 1 a.m.: "I wanted very much to get off that plane."
Gale says she paid $715 on a replacement flight and $500 for a hotel near the airport.
Passenger Carmen Szabo told CBC that while about three-quarters of passengers did get off the plane in Winnipeg, she and others decided to remain on board to return to Toronto as no assistance was being offered by the airline.
"They said there was no food or drink to purchase and they offered water once in 10 hours," Szabo told CBC. She added that flight attendants resorted to getting water from the plane's restroom for some passengers.
David Appelbaum, another passenger who stayed on the flight back to Toronto, told Insider that passengers were offered just $10 in meal vouchers following the ordeal.
He added that the replacement flight to Saskatoon didn't depart until 3 a.m. the next day.
"I doubt that anyone on those two flights got much sleep over the 40 hours of travel," he said.
According to CBC, Flair has declined to compensate passengers for the cost of their travel, citing the adverse weather that prevented the jet landing in Saskatoon.
Flair didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.